William Connolly may refer to:

See also

William Connolly VC (c1816 – 31 December 1891) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Biography

William Connolly was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England c1816. No baptism record has been found for him, his birth details and the identity of his parents are unknown.

After working as a stableman, he enlisted as a soldier in the Honourable East India Company on 2 May 1837 at Liverpool. Later that year he sailed on the ship Exmouth to India to serve as a gunner in the Bengal Horse Artillery. He was given a medical discharge in 1859, at the age of 43 years, after 21 years and 3 months service, due to wounds received on 7 July 1857 at Jhelum, British India during the Indian Mutiny. He was awarded the VC for his bravery at Jhelum. He was described as having an indifferent character. In physical appearance he was 5 feet 7 inches tall, he had brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. He returned home to England from India on the ship Alfred.

William Connolly (1839–1870's?), Irish piper.

Connolly was born in Milltown, County Galway, to Liam Dáll Connolly (whose grandson was piper John Burke). He had a brother, John, who was also a piper.

Early in life he and his brother John travelled to Liverpool, sailing from there to the United States, where John settled. William travelled on to Canada, playing "in that country for an unusually long time" on steamers up and down the St. Lawrence River.

Having made a great deal of money, he relocated to Brooklyn, New York, where he bought a house. This was sold in 1863 as Connolly feared he would be drafted into the Union army as a result of the ongoing American Civil War. "Besides, he realized that it was much easier for him to handle a chanter than a rifle, so he lost no time in getting back to Liverpool, in which cosmopolitan city he remained four years."

He returned to Milltown after leaving Liverpool and before sailing again to the USA, "Modesty evidently was not his most conspicuous virtue, for we are told that he engaged a boy to carry his set of bagpipes through Milltown, with a view to impress the people with a due sense of his importance."